SSR based genetic diversity analysis in a diverse germplasm of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) from Pakistan

The current study was aimed to explore the genetic diversity among seventy Pakistani accessions of Arachis hypogaea. In Pakistan their morphological and biochemical variations have already documented but still so far, molecular variations need to be studied for this valuable crop. For molecular diversity study DNA was extracted from all seventy accessions of Arachis hypogaea. The extracted DNA was primed with thirty SSR primers and amplified through PCR. Fifteen out of thirty primers generated polymorphic bands among the selected accessions. In total, forty different polymorphic loci were determined across the selected accessions. The range of number of polymorphic loci detected was ranged from 2 to 4 for each primer, with an average of 2.6 loci per primer. Polymorphic Index Content (PIC) value was calculated for each marker. The dendrogram was constructed on the basis of allelic data from fifteen SSR markers across the selected accessions. All the accessions were divided into six clusters at 0.67 coefficients of similarity. This study of variations at molecular level of Pakistani groundnut accessions will be helpful for conservation and breeding purposes of groundnut and other legumes.